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Tephras

(syn.ZosteropsϮ Palau Grey White-eye Z. finschii) Gr. τεφρας tephras ash-coloured < τεφρα tephra ashes; "TEPHRAS, Hartl., n. gen. Char. gen.-- Rostrum mediocre, rectum, acutum, integerrimum, apice subcompresso, carinatum, culmine apicem versus subarcuato; vibrissis vix conspicuis. Alæ mediocres, caudæ basin superantes, rotundatæ vel subtruncatæ; remige primo et quarto, secundo et tertio subæqualibus. Cauda mediocris, subæqualis, rectricibus debilibus, angustatis, apicem versus subacuminatis. Tarsus mediocris, scutellatus; pedes parvi; digitus externus vix longior interno; ungues parvi, debiles. Ptilosis mollis. 6. TEPHRAS FINSCHII, Hartl., n. sp. Supra obsolete fusca, subtus pallide cinerascens; cauda et alis intensius fuscis ... Tephras is a new form of the Zosteropine group. It differs from Zosterops in its differently formed beak, in the tail (which is rotundate in Tephras, emarginate in Zosterops), in the different form of the tail-feathers, in the less-pointed wing, and in the want of an eye-ring. There are some other genera with which Tephras agrees in many points, such as the West-African genus Parinia, and the Indian genera Myzornis and Yuhina; but it is decidedly different from these, as well as from other more or less allied forms. ... I have named this interesting new bird after my dear friend and coadjutor Otto Finsch, a young ornithologist whose well-known merits do not need any further eulogium." (Hartlaub 1868).